If you want to know how the mighty can fall now, try Sexual Abuse. It doesn't catch all offenders, but when it does it can result in economic mortality. That would apply to one Bill O'Reilly who will find it hard to ignore the exodus of some 21 companies (and counting, Axios reminds us) from his prime time FOX show The Factor.
Why not Trump?
It is becoming possible to surmise a reason why Donald Trump somehow avoids this abuse rap.
The answer is that he won the election. And on a daily basis, we are seeing why whatever the president may or may not have done in myriad cases will not be the reason he is removed from office. His supporters have known this forever. Many evangelicals ignore as inessential Trump's sexual transgressions. That is because they have an almost Lutheran view of things. They regard this world as largely a theater of evil and heaven as the release from it. Trump is a necessary evil.
The Syria Card
This generous attitude toward Trump is questionable if one looks at the brief and sad history of recent years in Syria.
There are those who say Trump's attitude cuts out the very heart of American strength. We must, they say, speak truth to power. If one simply says c'est la vie, one is capitulating to the worst sort of cynicism. Trump's defense is that President Obama gave in when he should have been aggressive. It is almost as if Trump is saying OK you could have done something but now nothing can be done. This could be seen as cowardly. Just like sexual abuse.
But maybe not
If Trump turns out to have a flair on the grand stage that he manifestly has lacked in previous iterations of who he is, then he may turn out to have a talent appropriate to the challenges of international politics. Should Russia turn critical of Assad and of Iran in exchange for some lightening up on sanctions, who is to say that is a bad deal?
There should be no confusion. If human rights organizations want to contend with Donald Trump they will need to embrace the view that harm is evil and demonstrate precisely how the President s inflicting harm and how it hurts America. That is not simple or easy but it is what is required. This tour of the Trump world is why he gets away with his sexual sins. But it also demonstrates a serious need to change the way the world does business.